Kirby's ability to copy other fighters is totally unique! While he is light and can be launched easily, he can also jump up to five times in the air, so he has great recovery. Look for his new Stone transformation, too.

Kirby is known for being a small lightweight, being tied for the eighth lightest character in the game. Despite this, Kirby's mobility is very poor in the air and only average on the ground, giving him a mediocre mobility overall: he has the twenty-first slowest walking speed, thirty-eighth fastest dashing speed, and a decently quick initial dash. He also has the fourth slowest air speed, fifteenth highest air acceleration, third lowest gravity, the fourth lowest falling and fast falling speeds, and above average traction. Due to these statistics, Kirby is a floaty character overall and has a hard time chasing opponents in the air. Although Kirby has 5 midair jumps, Kirby's recovery is average at best: despite his midair jumps and Final Cutter granting decent distance, his slow airspeed combined with his low jump height means that he is extremely vulnerable to offstage edgeguarding by those willing to challenge him offstage.

Kirby's greatest strength is his fast frame data and combo potential due to the versatility of his moveset. The majority of Kirby's moveset is characterized by speed, while his slower moves instead boast very high power as a trade-off, while also being quite fast for their power. Neutral attack and forward tilt are fast and have decent range, allowing Kirby to quickly fend off opponents. Up tilt's low knockback and fast speed allows it to combo into itself or an aerial attack. Down tilt's very low power is compensated by its very fast speed and it launching opponents at the Sakurai angle, which allow it to trip most opponents even over 80%. His smash attacks have good range, high power, and great speed, making them excellent at scoring a KO. Kirby is also very small, which combined with his very low crouch, he can avoid several grabs and many attacks, while his spotdodge and rolls are average in terms of frame data. As a result, Kirby has a good ground game and a very useful defensive game, also thanks to his crouch, while his good frame data makes him not easy to punish.

The usefulness of Kirby's ground game also extends to his good grab game. His grabs are shortranged but among the fastest, while his pummel's meager damage output is counterbalanced by its very fast speed. His forward throw, unlike most other forward throws in the game, has combo potential, and can lead into aerial combos. Back throw can be followed up by a back aerial at 0% on certain characters, tech-chase fast-fallers, and can KO at high percents. Up throw is his strongest throw and is able to KO almost all characters around 170%, or even earlier if it lands on a platform. Lastly, down throw is reliable for damage racking when no other throw can yield better results.

Kirby's air game is also serviceable, due to his aerials boasting versatility and less than 17 frames of landing lag. Neutral aerial has a long duration, decent knockback on the clean hit and its very low landing lag and good coverage grant Kirby protection and allows him to take full advantage of buffering and pressuring. Forward aerial is a powerful combo tool, chains fluidly and its first two hits can allow additional follow-ups due to its low landing lag. Up aerial has vertical knockback, low landing lag and has a good amount of autocanceling frames, allowing for many potential follow-ups. Back aerial has slightly disjointed range, a decently long duration, and is Kirby's fastest and strongest aerial, making it a very good all-purpose aerial attack. Lastly, down aerial has considerable startup, but drags opponents downward before meteor smashing them and has low ending lag, making it a deceptively powerful edgeguarding tool. In addition, it is an effective combo starter with guaranteed follow-ups on grounded opponents, even against floaty characters.

Kirby's special moveset is useful as well. Inhale allows him to either copy the neutral special move of any character he Inhales, or spit them out as a weight-dependent projectile Kirby can also spit some projectiles or eat them to heal himself. Since he can spit an inhaled projectile, this gives Kirby a reflector. It can also be used to Kirbycide or put the opponent offstage, although mashing out fast enough will free the opponent. The former, depending on what character he Inhales, can give Kirby a move that provides some assistance (Warlock Punch and Flare Blade), useful projectiles (Needle Storm) and (Charge Shot), a reflector(Nayru's Love) or other massive benefits (Monado Arts and Blaster). Kirby's version of the opponent's neutral special also has a 1.2x damage multiplier, encouraging him to rely on his Copy Ability. Hammer Flip is very powerful, especially when fully charged, and Kirby can move and jump while charging. However it has high startup and endlag, making it hard to land outside of punishing a shield break. Final Cutter is Kirby's recovery move, and a decent one at that, granting good vertical distance and decent horizontal distance, as well as protection during his ascent and descent. It also emits a shock wave upon landing, making it difficult to punish if not at point-blank range. Lastly, Stone causes Kirby to plummet straight down and ignore damage by any move that deals less than 25%. It is also very strong and can be canceled at any time, making it useful for playing mindgames.

However, Kirby has noticeable flaws, his most notable weakness being his poor endurance. Being light and floaty, Kirby cannot endure strong hits for long at high percents. He is also very vulnerable to juggling, due to his aforementioned slow falling and air speeds. Not helping this issue is the fact his only aerial with less than 10 frames of startup is his back aerial, which becomes active on frame 6. Not only does this make approaching opponents high up in the air risky, but also makes Kirby's aerials not very useful in a disadvantage state and is often forced to rely on his jumps to escape or return to the ledge, while also making him vulnerable to pressure.

Another big flaw is Kirby's poor approach. Characters who can projectile or mobility camp like Greninja, Samus, and ROB can zone out Kirby with little to no effort. Kirby's lack of burst options makes his approach in these matchups predictable. In addition, those with long disjointed hitboxes like Lucina, Chrom, and Mr. Game and Watch can outrange and wall out Kirby since he has generally mediocre range. Final Cutter's projectile is fast and has decent range, but is weak and Kirby lacks other projectiles outside of spitting some projectiles or opponents as a star or using a copy ability. Despite having a great air acceleration, Kirby's air speed is too slow for him to take advantage of it, although his mobility issues are not as bad as Luigi's. Kirby also has several KO moves, but most of them are hard to land without a setup due to his mediocre range. Rage further compounds these issues, as Kirby will be launched even earlier, while he will typically not endure long enough in order to take advantage of it.

Overall, Kirby tends to run hot and cold. He can inflict an impressive amount of damage if he gets close to his opponent thanks to his potent combo game, but doing so is difficult for him due to his poor approach. As such, Kirby does well with a bait-and-punish playstyle, although being unprepared for an opponent's approach can be hazardous due to his unimpressive survivability.

Near the end of SSB4's metagame, Kirby had been considered a low tier, and was thus ranked as the 6th worst character in SSB4's most recent tier list (50th out of 55). Most likely as a result of this, Kirby has been granted a mixture of buffs and nerfs, but has been noticeably buffed overall.

Kirby's buffs lie in the increased utility of his ground and aerial moveset. The first the first two hits of his jab can now jab lock, making them more useful for set-ups for downed characters, and the looping hits connect into the opponent much more reliably, albeit at the cost of reduced damage output. Forward tilt is a stronger neutral option, as its increased knockback gives it KO potential and its reduced ending lag makes it a harder move to punish overall. Dash attack has been completely reworked, reverting back to its Melee iteration - however, it is significantly stronger, dealing much more damage and knockback, has less startup compared to his previous dash attack in SSB4, can cross-up on shields, covers more distance, and is more reliable for catching opponents thanks to only consisting of one, long-lasting hit. These changes make it a stronger punish tool and a much more viable move overall than his previous dash attack. His smash attacks serve as stronger punish options, with forward smash having an increase in range, up smash having reduced start-up, and down smash regaining its semispike angle that makes it better for edgeguarding, similarly to one of its hitboxes in Brawl, and all three of have higher power, except for down smash, which has reduced knockback to compensate its lower angle, although it still KOs earlier close to the ledge. Landing lag buffs aid him as well, making his aerials not only safer, but now capable of leading into followups, with forward air's first hit now being able to follow up into forward smash, while his neutral aerial has more knockback and much less ending lag, making it safer and more reliable for pressuring, edgeguarding and KOing. Many of Kirby's attacks also have more range, partially reducing one of his weaknesses from SSB4. Inhale has reduced ending lag, more range, Kirby has a doubled time period during which he can't lose his Copy Ability, he can now spit projectiles as a star and his neutral special receives a 1.2× multiplier compared to his opponent, giving him a greater incentive to Inhale opponents, while also giving him a reflector. Lastly, Stone has super armor during its start-up, making it harder to interrupt Kirby out of the attack, as in previous Smash games, he could be interrupted even when he fully transformed.

However, Kirby has received a few noteworthy nerfs. The most notable were to his grab game: The universal changes to the ending lag of grabs makes Kirby's riskier to throw out, his already mediocre grab range has been worsened (most notably on his pivot grab), and his forward throw has him jump up higher after the throw, which runs the risk of possibly landing on top of a soft platform, negating all follow-ups when it happens too early. This worsens Kirby's combo game on stages with platforms, and when combined with the loss of back throw's combo potential, grants Kirby a less effective combo game off of his grabs overall. Additionally, Stone no longer hits twice against shielded opponents, reducing its shield pressure considerably, and back aerial, one of his primary KOing options in SSB4, deals less knockback. Lastly, his down aerial, one of his most reliable combo starters in SSB4, is less advantageous on landing due to the removal of frame canceling, reducing the effectiveness of its followups.

Overall, while Kirby has been improved from SSB4, he still retains many of the same issues (mediocre range, sluggish aerial mobility, noticeable start-up on aerials barring back air, susceptibility to being camped) that made him a poorly viewed character in SSB4. Additionally, a majority of the characters that were ranked on the same tier as Kirby or lower in SSB4 have received notably bigger improvements than Kirby, which includes characters such as King Dedede, Pac-Man, Falco, and Zelda. This, coupled with his very sparse tournament results, has garnered him an overwhelmingly negative reception across the Smash community; multiple competitive players including ESAM, Leffen, Tweek, VoiD, Dabuz, and Samsora view Kirby just as poorly as in SSB4 or even as one of the worst characters in the game altogether, with Mew2King going as far as to give Kirby his own tier below bottom tier, dubbed as the "Kirby Tier". However, he has earned some representation in all levels of play, with players such as Komota, Jesuischoq, SuperGirlKels, and Captain L. Jesuischoq usually does well in French majors, and Komota has achieved a few noticeable results in majors. As of now, due to Kirby's lack of representation outside of them, his overall viability remains uncertain.

As with all veterans returning from Smash 4, Kirby's model features a more subdued color scheme.

Like many other characters, Kirby is more expressive, both with his face and his movement.

Some of Kirby's animations, particularly his dash and initial jump, have been tweaked to closer resemble his appearance from Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward.

One of Kirby's voice clips when taking high knockback has been changed to his alternate KO sound from Smash 4.

As a result, he gains a new KO clip, which sounds similar to one of his Melee knockback voice clips.

Kirby's unused damage yell from Smash 4 is now used when he takes medium knockback.

Kirby's on-screen appearance has a more intense, fiery explosion than in previous games. The large, cartoony stars that appear have been removed, and while the sparkle effects are still present, they have been drastically toned down. All in all, it more closely resembles how it appeared in the original Super Smash Bros.

Up taunt has been shortened, with Kirby striking the ending pose without dancing first. The pose itself has been tweaked; Kirby now raises one of his feet, resembling the pose he makes when gaining an ability in his games.

Kirby smiles during his side taunt.

Kirby's victory poses have been modified. Two new dances are used, one with Kirby waving his arms and breakdancing, and another with Kirby moonwalking and sliding, both based off of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land and ending in a unique pose. Kirby also splits into three separate Kirbys when not in team battles, referencing his home series. This is the first and only game to have Kirby's victory poses finish differently.

Kirby's idle pose at the end of his victory animation is more animate, with a gentle squash-and-stretch effect leading to a more rubbery feeling.

Kirby faces forward instead of away when "wiggling" in one of his victory poses.

When Kirby gains a new Copy Ability, he briefly poses like he does in his home series. This animation can be canceled.

Some Copy Ability hats have been changed.

His Samus helmet has a fully opaque visor, as it was in Super Smash Bros.

His Captain Falcon helmet has triangular eyes, and the visor is opaque as in Super Smash Bros.

Unlike Smash 4, his Jigglypuff cap matches his costume color, as in previous games up to Brawl.

The first hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.7×), giving opponents more time to SDI it.

The second hit and each hit of the infinite have a shorter hitbox duration (2 frames → 1), and the latter also has one frame more startup (frame 6 → 7), although this is compensated by its faster transition from the second hit.

Up tilt's closest hitbox is larger (4u → 4.8u), now slightly larger than in Brawl.

Its late hit and foot intangibility last one more frame (frames 6-9 → 6-10), now matching its duration from Brawl.

It has less base knockback (40 → 30/26 (clean), 26 (late)), but more knockback scaling (116 → 132/125 (clean), 110 → 130/119 (late)), allowing it to combo better into his aerials from low to mid percents, while also improving its KO potential at very high percents.

The hitbox at the tip of Kirby's foot launches at a slightly different angle (100° → 98° (clean), 88° → 86° (late)).

Dash attack has reverted to its Melee iteration, where Kirby does a flaming tackle identical to the Burning copy ability from his home series, although it does not go off edges.

It hits only once instead of six times, possessing a clean hit, mid hit and late hit. This makes it more reliable overall than the previous dash attack, which could sometimes miss its last hit due to the looping hits' poor linking ability.

It propels Kirby a much farther distance forward, increasing its range, and due to him leaping during the animation, it can cross-up shields despite the changes to jostle mechanics. This makes it safer on shield at close range.

The clean hit deals more damage (1% (hits 1-5), 4% (hit 6); 9% total → 12%), with knockback not fully compensated (100 base/70 scaling → 82/66), and launches at a more horizontal angle (65° → 46°). This turns it into a much stronger finisher, KOing opponents at around 160% from center stage and 105% near edges, compared to being unable to KO under 280% regardless of horizontal positioning.

It deals less damage when angled up (16% → 15% (clean), 12% → 11% (late)), although the clean is still slightly stronger than in Smash 4 due to its higher knockback values.

The clean hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×).

It has a different startup animation: Kirby pulls back before executing a thrust kick instead of performing a spin first, making it resemble Smash Kick, one of Smash Bros. Kirby's attacks in Kirby: Planet Robobot.

Down smash launches at a semi-spike angle like one of its hitboxes in Brawl (69° → 29°), significantly improving its edgeguarding ability and allowing it to KO earlier near edges. It's also no longer vulnerable to LSI.

It has much less knockback scaling to compensate for its lower angle(110 → 89), hindering its KO potential at center stage and across the stage.

Forward aerial's first hit launches at a higher angle (45°/80° → 53°/84°) and deals less knockback (35 base/50 scaling → 43/39 (close), 35/38 (far)), allowing it to connect into the second hit more reliably.

The first and second hits have lower hitlag (1× → 0.8×) and SDI multipliers (1× → 0.5×), making them harder to escape.

The looping hits have a noticeably lower hitlag multiplier (1.5× → 0.8×), alongside a larger hitbox (5u → 6u), increasing their range and making them harder to escape from.

It can no longer be frame canceled, with its landing lag not reduced enough to compensate. As a result, it has more landing lag relative to Smash 4 if the landing hit connects, hindering its combo potential.

Forward throw has Kirby jump slightly higher and further backwards at the end of the animation, able to reach the height of Battlefield's lower platform. The additional height weakens its combo potential at low percents, while the additional backwards distance prevents him from benefiting from the extra height at higher percents.

Back throw has Kirby jump immediately after releasing the opponent as opposed to a few frames later, with its duration unchanged, increasing its ending lag. This causes Kirby to be much higher in the air after the move ends, removing its followups at low percents.

Back throw has an altered animation where Kirby doesn't squish as much upon slamming the opponent to the ground.

It has less ending lag after copying an opponent (FAF 30 → 21), preventing the copied opponent from being able to hit Kirby before he can move.

Its swallowing hitboxes are larger (4.2u/4.6u → 5.3u/5.8u), increasing the safety of copying an opponent when others are nearby.

It can catch projectiles to heal Kirby, albeit with noticeable ending lag.

Kirby can keep some projectiles, like a fully charged Charge Shot, inside his mouth and then choose to spit them out as a star that deals damage or swallow them to heal himself. The ability to spit projectiles also gives Kirby a reflector .

Kirby dies later when performing a Kirbycide, though he still dies first. This gives the opponent less time to recover after Kirby is KO'd.

Kirby receives a 1.2× damage multiplier for his Copy Abilities when compared to the copied opponent's neutral special. This improves the utility of his Copy Ability.

The landing hit launches at a higher angle (0° → 25°) and has much more base knockback (40 → 86), although with its knockback scaling compensated (40 → 24), allowing it to set up edgeguards more effectively, while also increasing its KO power.

The aerial hit can no longer combo into the landing hit, significantly decreasing its shield damage.

If Stone is hit with a reversing move such as Cape, the transformation will visually spin around.

Opponents can no longer run through Stone, but can now push the transformations along the ground.

Kirby has been buffed via game updates, having his damage output, KO potential, and attack safety slightly improved. His forward tilt has less ending lag and deals more knockback, giving it newfound KO potential at very high percentages, while boosting its safety. Neutral and up aerials have less ending lag, with the former being able to auto-cancel earlier as well, aiding Kirby's aerial game. Dash attack deals more damage on all hitboxes, while its clean hitbox has wider range, enabling it to rack up damage more easily. In the 3.0.0 patch, Kirby has been buffed further, with improvements given to a few of his more generally lackluster attacks. Kirby can retain inhaled Copy Abilities noticeably longer and is less likely to lose his Copy Abilities after the initial threshold. His down throw's damage-racking capabilities are improved, and his Final Cutter can grab ledges earlier, making it safer for recovery. Up smash's clean hit now has a longer duration, improving its reliability as an anti-air option. Lastly, the universal nerf to projectile shield damage allows Kirby to overcome camping strategies better.

A one-two combo. When button mashed, Kirby performs the Vulcan Jab from the Fighter ability before concluding with the Smash Punch, also from the Fighter ability. It is very quick due to coming out on frame 3, and its first two hits have very minimal ending lag. These traits make it effective for jab canceling or as an out of shield option.

Throws a spinning roundhouse kick. It is quick, due to coming out on frame 5, having very little ending lag and can be angled. Due to its above average knockback, it can KO middleweights starting at around 132% at the edge of Final Destination.

A scorpion kick. Although its damage output is low, it is a very useful combo starter at low percents, especially on fast-fallers, due to it coming out on frame 4 and having both minimal ending lag and disjointed range which slightly reaches behind him. It also renders Kirby's foot intangible throughout its duration.

The Burn attack from the Fire ability. It has decent start up at frame 9 with a lengthy hitbox that grows weaker over time. When struck cleanly, it has great power, KOing middleweights at around 98% from the edge of Final Destination.

The Spin Kick from the Fighter ability. Due to becoming active at frame 13, it's fast for a forward smash. It can be angled and moderately moves Kirby forward, giving it deceptive range. Its clean hitbox also deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth, which makes it a powerful and reliable KOing option. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 80%. However, its late hitbox lacks reliable KO potential.

A bicycle kick. It can hit behind Kirby, while its clean hitbox deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth like forward smash. It clean hitbox KOs middleweights at around 110% from anywhere on Final Destination. Kirby's foot is also rendered intangible throughout its duration. However, its mid and late hitboxes lack KO potential. Comes out on frame 12 and has 29 frames of ending lag, so it's speed is only average for an up smash.

A spinning split kick. It hits in front of and behind Kirby, and its clean hitbox deals respectable damage and has very high knockback growth like his forward and up smashes. Comes out on frame 10. Semispike with above average power, with its clean hitbox KOing middleweights at around 103% from the edge of Final Destination. It also renders Kirby's feet intangible, albeit only during its clean hitbox. However, its late hitbox has significantly lower KO potential.

A cartwheel, similar to the aerial attack from the Smash ability. Its very low landing lag makes it a decent set-up option at low percents or a tool for shield pressure when short hopped, while it's surprisingly high knockback growth makes it a decent anti-pressure and out of shield option. It has big hitboxes, especially at the beginning, giving good protection and coverage around Kirby. It can also edgeguard, but it has the highest amount of ending lag out of Kirby's aerials, although much safer than in SSB4 since its ending lag was reduced drastically. Despite having sex kick properties, it also has noticeable startup lag at frame 10, tied with forward and up aerials. Autocancels in a full hop.

The Aerial Spin Kick from the Fighter ability. The first two hits have low knockback, which allows them to connect reliably with the third hit. Its low landing lag also allows the first or second hit to be used as set-up options into other moves, such as an up smash or forward smash at high percents. Good for combos. Can connect into itself for a Wall of Pain in certain instances. Autocancels in a full hop.

A dropkick. It functions as a sex kick, but also has the lowest amount of start-up lag out of Kirby's aerials, due to it coming out on frame 6. It autocancels from a short hop and its clean hitbox also deals the most damage out of his aerials, and possesses very high knockback growth, which make it a viable KOing option. While near the edge of Final Destination, its clean hitbox KOs middleweights at around 105%. It also boasts good range due to its slightly disjointed hitbox, which makes it a viable edge-guarding option, and allows it to use it in a wall of pain.

A diagonal corkscrew dropkick. An effective combo starter on grounded opponents and, due to the last hit being a weak meteor smash, it is a useful edge-guarding option, especially since its low ending lag makes it relatively safe to use off-stage. It can even lead into a footstool jump on fast-fallers and heavyweights. While it has the highest amount of start-up lag out of Kirby's aerials due to coming out on frame 18, and not autocanceling in a short hop, it can be auto-canceled on landing, giving Kirby a very large window to safely land while tumbling. Despite possessing a landing hit, it's landing lag is only moderate, with 16 frames,making it safe even if not autocanceled.

The Pile Driver from the Suplex ability. Unlike the majority of forward throws, it possesses combo potential. Its most reliable follow-ups are neutral, forward and down aerials at low percents, and up aerial and Final Cutter at medium percents. Using it below a Battlefield platform will have Kirby land on said platform, hindering followups at lower percents, but extending them at higher percents.

The Big Suplex from the Suplex ability. Despite having an average damage output and very low base knockback, it has very high knockback growth. As a result, it has decent KO potential, yet can also combo into back aerial on certain characters at very low percents. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 137%.

The attack of the same name from the Ninja ability. Like Meta Knight's up throw, it can damage and launch bystanders upon landing. It is weaker than his back throw when used at the edge, but it is consistently strong regardless of where it's used on the stage. Great knockback, KOing middleweights at around 158% from anywhere on Final Destination, and the landing hit can KO at around 157%. Because Kirby jumps up to perform it, he can land onto platforms above him upon descending, which enables it to KO even earlier.

Inhales the opponent. It has a grabbox and can be held indefinitely. Upon Inhaling an opponent, Kirby can spit them out as a star to deal damage to them and any nearby opponents, copy their neutral special move, or walk around slowly and/or perform a short hop. However, the opponent can escape from Kirby's mouth via button mashing. Some characters will give Kirby a slight variation of their neutral special due to mechanics that would not work properly when copied, such as Luma Shot and Pikmin Pluck. When inhaling projectiles, Kirby will heal off a small amount of percentage, and when inhaling large projectiles, such as Samus's fully charged Charge Shot, it can be spat out as a star. Kirby' s copied neutral special's damage output has a x1.2 multiplier compared the opponent's version.

The attack of the same name from the Hammer ability. It is chargeable and, when fully charged, Kirby's hammer will ignite and deal recoil damage. He can also slowly walk and jump while charging it, while a fully charged Hammer Flip grants armor during part of the swing. When it is used in midair, Kirby will swing his hammer twice. While near the edge of Final Destination, uncharged Hammer Flip KOs middleweights at around 65%. Conversely, fully charged Hammer Flip KOs middleweights at around 6%. Although weaker, aerial Hammer Flip nevertheless possesses impressive KO potential. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 86%. Conversely, its fully charged version KOs them at around 33%. When fully charged and on the ground, it makes Kirby invincible from frame 2-10 and gives him super armor from frame 11-17. Despite this power, the move is considered essentially useless in competitive play outside of shield break punishes due to its small hitbox, terrible startup, and huge endlag.

The attack of the same name from the Cutter ability. It can meteor smash any opponents he comes into contact with upon descending. The sword also emits a shockwave upon hitting a solid surface, which is Kirby's only projectile aside from spitting out an Inhaled opponent. A good vertical recovery move and has decent horizontal distance when angled. However, it is extremely predictable due to its high start-up. Kirby cannot sweetspot the edge until he starts to descend, and if the platform beneath him disappears or if he is pushed off while he is still in the landing animation, he will be rendered helpless.

The Stone Change (while Kirby is on the ground) and the Stone Smash (while Kirby is in the air) from the Stone ability. Thanks to its high damage output, Stone Smash KOs middleweights at around 108% and deals considerable shield damage. It can also be canceled in midair by pressing the special button, which can be used for mindgames. Although Stone Change is slightly weaker, it is a semi-spike. Kirby cannot be damaged while he is transformed, although his Stone forms have a set amount of durability, and he can be grabbed while transformed.

The Super Ability of the same name. Kirby wields a gigantic sword to repeatedly slash the opponent before enlarging the sword and then concluding with a powerful downward slash. While near the edge of Final Destination, it KOs middleweights at around 15%.

Note: Outside of team battles, Kirby's victory poses have three separate Kirbys, referencing the Kirby dances from his home series.

Left: Moonwalks to the left, twists, slides to the right, and jumps into a pose where he stands on one foot. Based on Kirby's dances in Kirby's Return to Dream Land and ends with a pose similar to his Brawl render.

Up: Cartwheels to the left twice, wiggles, and does a front flip before posing.

Right: Jumps twice, shuffles backwards, does a breakdance, and poses while facing away from the camera. Based on Kirby's dances in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, with the ending pose also appearing in said game.

The victory theme of the Kirby universe is a cover of the short recurring theme that plays when Kirby completes a stage or defeats a boss, debuting in Kirby's Dream Land, though the shortened version that this track is based on debuted in Kirby's Adventure.

Since the release of Ultimate, many professionals immediately noticed Kirby's significant flaws from the previous installment have been retained, and that his improvements to his other attributes are considered to be too negligible to fix them. As a result, his representation in the national levels has been minimal, with his reception being notoriously negative across the community. Kirby does, however, achieve at least some results in the local and regional scene. Jesuischoq has won a few local Europe tournaments and got good results in French majors, while Komota has made several respectable regional placings in the United States, as well as a noticeable 65th place finish at Frostbite 2019 . Most notably, SuperGirlKels has effectively used him as a secondary, notably using him to place in the Top 8 in ICARUS V and managing to take out Exodia along the way by using a combination of her main, Sonic, and Kirby. However, despite respectable local and regional results from said players, and game updates helping him, most of the community doesn’t consider them significant enough to address his key weaknesses from SSB4.

Kirby's opponents are characters who, like Kirby, are known for their large appetites. For each battle, Kirby and his opponent each spawn with 35% damage and several food items appear on the stage as the match begins.

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Kirby's Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to Mario's character unlock tree, starting with Sonic.

Kirby was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to assist in defeating an army of Master Hands.

After Galeem absorbed all of the Master Hands during the opening cutscene, he began to unleash beams of light that vaporized all of the fighters and later imprisoned all of them. Kirby was the sole survivor after escaping on his Warp Star, barely warping away from the beams before they could engulf him. Despite being the sole survivor, Kirby is still seen as a puppet in a few areas of the mode. It was later explained that Galeem had analyzed Kirby at some point during the story and was able to make puppet fighters in his image without needing Kirby himself.

Kirby crash-lands in a canyon area, and begins his quest to save the other fighters as the initial starting protagonist.

He is later seen alongside several other fighters, as they make their final stand against Galeem and Dharkon.

Kirby's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Starting World of Light and play as Kirby allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Kirby's pose resembles his character artwork in Kirby Super Star, but rotated to slightly face the screen. Coincidentally, this was also used for his character select artwork in the original Super Smash Bros.

Kirby is the only Kirby series character to keep his Final Smash between Smash 4 and Ultimate.

Since Kirby is the starter character of World of Light and part of the starter roster, it means he's the only character that isn't unlockable in the game for any mode.

This also makes Kirby the only character in the entire series that is never unlocked in any mode.

This means it is impossible to see the message saying that "Kirby joins the battle!"

Despite his status as the mode's starter character and closest thing to a main character, Kirby's depiction in marketing or artwork for Ultimate is no more prominent than any of the other starter characters, apart from Mario and Link who collectively serve as the game's mascots.

Kirby has the highest amount of voice clips for any character in the game, with 95 clips.

Kirby is the only starter character in Ultimate whose universe has more than one character to not include any characters in their Classic Mode unlock table, as Meta Knight is in Link's, and King Dedede is in Donkey Kong's. Namely:

Unlike other characters, Kirby can actually taunt online when playing outside of arenas, but only to discard his copy ability.

As a result of not being captured, Kirby is one of the few characters that doesn't have copies of him produced by Dharkon or Galeem during their boss fights.

Ironically, while the Kirby Dance has traditionally been composed of reused animations in the game, Kirby uses the slide in one of his new victory poses despite not using it in the entire Smash series.

Since Kirby was never possessed by Galeem like everyone else, his presence in many spirit battles went unclear for some time, until Masahiro Sakurai addressed this in an interview; stating that Galeem managed to analyze Kirby halfway through the story, making it possible to create puppets of him.[1]